Join us at our Summer Artists' Market
On July 20th the Chester Art Centre is hosting over 20 local artists at our 2024 Summer Artist Market. This year the market will run from 10am-4pm so come out and support these amazing artists! Entrance to the market is FREE!
Curbside Eats will be dishing out amazing food from their family-owned, chef-operated food truck!
A glimpse at some of the Artists...
Patty Lively
Born in Lunenburg, Patty has painted with gratitude and pleasure for many years, using a variety of mediums and subjects. More recently, Patty has focused on the coastal and rural areas of Lunenburg County, painting both the spectacular and the serene. Patty seeks to interpret the balance and harmony of nature, using an intuitive interplay of light, colour, and texture, and to express its fleeting and timeless presence.
Emma Fitzgerald
Emma FitzGerald was born in Southern Africa to Irish parents, did most of her growing up in Vancouver, and calls E’se’katik (place of clams), also known as Lunenburg, home. She wrote and illustrated Hand Drawn Halifax, Sketch by Sketch Along Nova Scotia’s South Shore, Hand Drawn Vancouver, and has illustrated the award-winning EveryBody’s Different on EveryBody Street. When she isn’t sketching, she enjoys dancing and getting lost in new places.
Sasha Sheppard
Aleksandra (Sasha) Sheppard is a Botanical and mixed media artist living in Bedford Nova Scotia. Her key vision is to celebrate the beauty and resilience of wild flowers and seaweed, and elevate this centuries-old art form. As a landscape architect with over 20 years of experience her inspiration comes from daily walks on the beach (foraging seaweed on low tide) and in the forest ( collecting plant material ) , observing nature .She uses traditional slow pressing techniques at her studio to ensure her work is created with minimum impact on the planet.
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Each piece of Sasha’s artwork is unique. She has a number of collections, ranging from contemporary collage to more classic and vintage styles. Her works are featured in Windsor Studio, Art Market, Lunenburg Art Gallery, and Tides Contemporary Art Gallery.
Rhonda Barrett
Rhonda Barrett is an artist from Newfoundland, currently living in Nova Scotia, whose study of paper and Japanese arts finds her working in either a chigiri-e style with newsprint or a very loose and playful way with collected ephemera. The waste-not-want-not lifestyle and nostalgia of her resourceful maritime upbringing is paramount in her choice of mediums and informs much of the art she creates. The use of newspaper as her primary medium is a nod to the temporal arts, frugality, and our ideas of material value. She works out of her collage and assemblage gallery, Cuts and Paste Gallery, in Halifax, NS.
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Nadine Reid
Nadine Reid is from East Chester. She has always been passionate about creating and trying different art forms. Nadine does needle felting for a hobby. Her flat felted pictures are inspired by the east coast landscape, nature, animals, and whimsical fun.
AudOrigins
AudOrigins creates small original artworks in watercolour and mixed media focused on imagery from her garden and collection of natural objects found on her travels through the woods and along the shore. Returning to her studio practice after a few years away, the art works bestow the refound joy of creating and the delight of looking. All artworks are originals created by Audrey Nicoll, local artist and art educator.
MacKayla Townsend
MacKayla Townsend is an acrylic and graphite artist based in the South Shore who is inspired by the diversity found in nature. She aims to celebrate and draw attention to endangered species through art, and she enjoys capturing special moments of pets in custom portraits. Find her on Instagram @tangledtails.art, or ask about commissions at tangledtails.art@gmail.com
Christine Covert
Christine Covert is a local artist born in Lunenburg who has been creating art since childhood. She uses all kinds of mixed media for her creations. Notable are her acrylic paintings on canvas. With their whimsical feel, you will enjoy these paintings as much as Christine enjoys making them.
Nova Coolen
Nova started painting in 2014 as a hobby. Over time, they developed a passion for arts and crafts. Acrylic paints, color pencils, and crayons are the mediums Nova works with. Nova also makes ornaments and other small crafts using simple materials. Their imagination and nature's beauty are what inspires their work.
Halifax Henna
Halifax Henna has been offering henna body art in NS since 2013.
We use homemade henna paste made with natural ingredients that are safe for skin application. Henna lasts 1-2 weeks and is fun for all ages!
Pam Stevenson
When I was 3 years old my dad gave me a beautiful garnet ring. It is probably red glass. It doesn't matter to me. He had introduced me to JEWELLERY - my life's passion. Thanks to that passion, and a lifetime working in high-end retail, I had the confidence, strength and vision to create the jewellery studio & shop of my dreams in Martin's Point. My jewellery shop is overflowing with one-of-a-kind jewellery. I am an easily bored, only child—so no 2 pieces are the same.
I meet my fabulous clients and friends both online and in person at pop up markets all over Nova Scotia but my favourite place to welcome people is my little curated shop on the Western Shore. And, when curious new visitors walk through my door, this is what I hear "WOW! I didn't expect this!" It makes me giggle...like a 3 year old...who just received a ring from her dad.
Shivangi Verma
My name is Shivangi and I am the sole person behind my studio. I am an artist, creating a variety of artworks while exploring the wildest medium, i.e. watercolors. I am based in Halifax and create from a delightful corner in my living room, which is also my studio space. Painting has been a consistent part of my life for the past 4 years and offers me a space to connect with myself, while also giving me a chance to slow down. I have been told that my work gives off a calming and therapeutic vibe. I offer high-quality original paintings, commissioned artwork, and limited edition giclee art prints (made to order). I paint mandalas, landscapes, florals and typographic art which cater to my varied interests. My paintings have found homes in different parts of the world. I also indulge in regular sketchbook painting, create logos and design wedding cards for projects that excite me.
Susan Lord
Susan lives on the beautiful South Shore of NS and is a retired system
analyst from Bell Aliant. As a multi-media artist she is interested in creating
mixed media artwork using image transfer, collage techniques, rust printing
and assemblage. She also works in fibre and has recently been trying her
hand at painting. Her artwork is continually evolving as she explores new
ways to express her creativity. Capturing the beauty of nature and the
world around her through photography has been a life-long passion.
She has been member of the Aspotogan Arts and Crafts group since 2004
and is their current Treasurer and Webmaster.
Charles Weiss
Charles Weiss is an artist from Pleasantville Nova Scotia who creates wood carved fish in a realistic.
He uses hand tools and electric grinders to make a life size replica design of sportfish.
Drawing fun caricature portraits with an exaggerated style in a few minutes is also part of his creativity.
Dawn Macdougall Dean
My name is Dawne McDougall Dean and until about 6 years ago I hadn’t even considered making jewelry. I retired from a corporate job that I’d had for nearly 35 years. I was at a loss as to what to do next when a friend asked me to help her make a few bracelets for her business. That one small task changed the trajectory of the rest of my life! I fell in love with the amazing colours and variety of the gemstones that exist. The more I’ve learned, the more I want to learn.I’ve broadened my horizons since making that first bracelet but the joy I feel when I’m working with pretty stones has never waned.I use semi precious gemstones, sterling silver and gold filled wire to make my jewelry. I’m so happy spending time in my work room. I’m surrounded by dozens of different gemstones in every colour. I love creating beautiful pieces and I hope they make people happy when they’re being worn. It feels so wonderful when someone comes back and tells me how much they love what they purchased.
William Baker, Julian Krizsan, and Éric-Olivier Thériault
William Baker, Julian Krizsan, and Éric-Olivier Thériault, artists from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, blend functional design with sculptural work. At this event, they will present their creative vision through recent ceramic art pieces and small-scale sculptures.
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Lisa Hrabowsky
A resident of Chester since 1981, Lisa gravitated towards art from a young age starting with pencil and pen sketches and discovering painting for the first time in her teens. Acrylic paint quickly became Lisa’s favourite medium, as she revelled in its ability to bring her bright, funky, and whimsical creations to life.
Lisa can often be found in her studio working on personal projects and commissions, sharing her knowledge and love of artistic expression through her local Creative Seniors classes and studying with other professional artists to enrich her knowledge of oil and watercolour techniques.
Amora
Raised in a family of artists, my path began in fabrics, but it was driftwood that ignited my artistic voyage in sculpting. The wood's wisdom teaches me to yield to creativity's current, nurturing the unforeseen. I enjoy the challenges of working with driftwood as their story is revealed. With every sculpture, I honour
impermanence, embracing the fluidity of life and the tales told by time.
Joanne Fouchard
In my artistic odyssey, I embark on a continuous exploration of mixed media, weaving together acrylic paint and charcoals to bridge artistic boundaries. Guided by a unique perspective shaped by my visual impairments and mental landscape, I paint a distinctive narrative.
Shawna Basque
“As a formally trained goldsmith who works in sterling silver, I offer fine jewellery of timeless design and heirloom quality. I am going on my third season as a vendor at the Chester Farmers' and Artisan Market, as well as the Hubbard's Farmers Market. Furthermore, I am honoured to be sitting on the Municipality of Chester Arts and Culture Steering Committee as a proud local artist”.
Sherry Lynn Blevins
“As a formally trained goldsmith who works in sterling silver, I offer fine jewellery of timeless design and heirloom quality. I am going on my third season as a vendor at the Chester Farmers' and Artisan Market, as well as the Hubbard's Farmers Market. Furthermore, I am honoured to be sitting on the Municipality of Chester Arts and Culture Steering Committee as a proud local artist”.
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Kevin Maclean
Mad invention, re-invention, random chance, inspiration...objects tell stories.
As a metal oddment artist, I have been visiting auction houses, yard sales, surplus dealers, finding and gathering urban flotsam for about fifteen years, slowly building up a large “palette” of industrial fittings and generally odd “high tech junk”. I look for circular shapes and highly crafted components and often the pieces I come across dictate the direction of the sculpture. I get to be an artist, antique dealer, and pack rat all in the same occupation.